Firefighters Say Coventry Fire District in "Dire" Financial Situation

Members of the Coventry Professional Firefighters Local 3372 are clanging alarm bells over the finances of the Coventry Fire District.

David Gorman, president of the union, said Wednesday that the Coventry Fire District presented financial information at a budget workshop last week that shows the district “is in a very precarious and dire financial situation.”

The district reportedly owes $464,896 on a line of credit taken out with Coventry Credit Union as a form of tax anticipation note. That money was “apparently” used for cashflow purposes, Gorman said in a statement, and “the new data also indicates that the District has been juggling its limited cash on hand by not paying bills--including money withheld from the employees’ paychecks that was never transferred to the State of Rhode Island Employee Retirement System.”

As of last week, the district owed $150,000 in bills to the Kent County Water Authority, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island, National Grid and others. The district is also showing $731,000 in uncollected taxes dating back to 2010.

The financial issues come to light immediately following a scandal involving Coventry Fire District Chief Paul Labbadia, who has been on paid leave since a Target 12 investigation showed him apparently drinking, smoking marijuana and playing golf repeatedly while on duty. The months-long investigation also alleges Labbadia got behind the wheel of his Fire Department vehicle while under the influence and has left Coventry taxpayers wondering if their house catches fire, the chief on scene might be drunk.

Gorman said the information was released during a budget workshop with the recently-appointed treasurer Judith Hetherman. Board members have reportedly been asking for the documents repeatedly and “told a very different story than usual when the chief was in attendance.”

“To take money from our employees’ paychecks that should have been deposited into their personal 401K or retirement accounts and then use it to pay other bills is not only morally wrong, it’s criminal,” Gorman said. “I am confident the residents of Coventry have had enough of the shenanigans over the last several years, as have we, the employees being pinned in the middle and blamed for management’s wrongdoing. The gross mismanagement, lack of controls and zero accountability on every level has cast the darkest of clouds on the firefighters and emergency medical technicians that work extremely hard serving the Coventry Fire Districts’. We as employees deserve action and we as the community must demand action.” asserted Gorman. “The Board must act decisively and must act now.”

Gorman said the review of finances last week was the first in-depth review the union has had “in years.”

“There is now concrete proof that the Coventry Fire District is on the same path of financial disaster due to mismanagement as was The Central Coventry Fire District before being placed under the Fiscal Stability Act,” Gorman said. “Thankfully state legislators had the ability to understand the enormity of what could happen if a vital public service such as fire and medical services was unable to operate because of a financial crisis and they had the foresight to incorporate all fire districts within the State into the new law.”

Gorman said he is calling upon the board to request a detailed audit -- something he said he requested three years ago at a Coventry (Anthony) Fire District meeting in 2012, which he said “was not received well by the Fire Chief or Board President at that time.”

According to a balance sheet purportedly from the Antony Fire District, the district is running a deficit of $199,849 in the current fiscal year. It also shows expenses have increased from $1.9 million to $2.5 million per year since 2007.

To review the entire budget document, click here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ywfdm5uhdtxkmsb/AFD%20Budget%20doc%27s%20Nov%206%202014.pdf?dl=0